Dracula: Resurrection is a joy to play. I sat, completely engrossed in the game, as I took control of Jonathan on the search for his wife, Mina. Imagine my surprise when, an hour and a half into the game, I was asked to switch CDs. Imagine the horror when the game ended another hour and a half later. Folks, this game is wonderful, but it’s way, way too short. At the going price tag of 30 bucks, you’re going to feel cheated out of your money. But enough of that. Let’s talk about the game itself.
You take the role of Jonathan Harker, seven years after the book ended. Your wife, Mina, leaves you a note saying that she’s leaving you for the sugar daddy to end all sugar daddies -- Dracula himself. So off you go, back to Transylvania, in an attempt to stop Dracula once and for all, or at least rescue the wife.
There are some very, very nice things about the game. For one, it’s almost impossible to screw up the game. In fact, it may be -- I didn’t try, but everything that you might need for a later puzzle is pretty obviously shown to you, and I never had an instance where I couldn’t get back to where a necessary item was. This keeps the frustration level down, as anyone who played the first few King’s Quests can tell you just how much of a pain it is to play 15 hours into a game and realize that you forgot to pick up something on the first screen and are therefore stuck. Ugh. So kudos to the developers for making a game that keeps you going and never having to worry about missing a vital item or anything silly like that.
The plot itself is also interesting -- yes, you’re trying to save your wife, but as the game progresses, you learn more and more about what’s happened with and around our favorite blood-sucking Count. The oodles of background information just makes for a more enjoyable play, and is something that didn’t need to be there -- but it’s wonderful that it is.
Puzzles never involve much more than picking the right item and clicking on the right location. I had a few problems finding some places to click -- they tend to be quite small, and especially in the underground areas, almost black -- but this was quickly remedied. Since the game makes sure that you only have a dozen or so significant locations accessible at any given time, a thorough check always turns up what you need to do. And rarely does it not make sense. Sure, it’s that crazy adventure game sense, but it’s never Resident Evil-style, where you just dumbly go through every item in your inventory trying to see what works on the gadget in front of you.
With the cool ambiance, the enjoyable play, and the good story, why do I give the game such a low score? I said it once, and I’ll say it again -- it’s too damned short. I beat this game in one sitting.
